4Cs Learning Environment Fund-a-Need

Innovative classrooms were the focus of SchoolPower’s Fund-a-Need program, giving a kick-start to a recent Laguna Beach district initiative to modernize schools.

In Carrie Denton’s environmental sciences lab, which serves as Laguna Beach High School’s first test site, there is no front of the classroom. Denton’s lessons are fluid, creative and lively as two 80-inch monitors on opposite walls and wheeled desks allow students’ attention, bodies, study groups and class discussions to shift. “Collaboration of students is very easy,” Denton says. “I can move students if I need to during a lesson. This environment allows the students to be successful.”

The effort to reimagine the classroom is called the 4Cs Learning Environment, with 4Cs an abbreviation for creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and communication. Local education foundation SchoolPower’s partnership in the LBUSD project means 12 classrooms will be transformed by the fall to include mobile furniture, audio systems and large monitors.

Mike Morrison, LBUSD’s chief technology officer, says that modernizing the classroom is crucial in preparing students for their exponentially changing world. In the last year, a 4CLE committee has researched the critical link between the school environment and how our children learn. The group has also studied how design can best improve education. “The teachers want this,” says Morrison. “They have been involved in the planning, and are asking for it.”

SchoolPower’s annual Fund-a-Need program is designed to quickly fund a district dream and put it into action. “The reality of a school system is that it cannot fund every important educational resource,” says Tom Motherway, president of SchoolPower. “Fund-a-Need makes a direct impact in Laguna Beach classrooms every year. It’s an extraordinary gift from a very supportive community.”

SchoolPower president Tom Motherway and LBUSD chief technology officer Mike Morrison introduced the Fund-a-Need video, a parody of “The Office,” from the innovative mobile desks requested by the district. In order to outfit 12 classrooms with large monitors, audio systems and innovative furniture that allow fluid configurations and collaboration amongst students, $424,000 was needed (or $35,500 per class). LBUSD committed $212,000, which meant SchoolPower needed to raise the other $212,000 — in one night.

It was an extremely ambitious, but ultimately attainable goal, helped greatly by the compelling words and action of Thurston Middle School parent Brent Martini. An active investor in past efforts to advance LBUSD instructional goals, Martini stepped forward at the beginning of the bidding to fund three classrooms. He explained, “What I learned is that the district has great intentions, but they can only go so fast… so I asked, how do we accelerate that?” The entire room of inspired guests, including generous supporters Holly and David Wilson, responded by enthusiastically raising their paddles, making LBUSD and SchoolPower history along the way. As a result, $212,000 will be directed to LBUSD to complete funding for this significant initiative.